Noticias Latin American Program Newsletter Fall 2002
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NOTICIAS LATIN AMERICAN PROGRAM NEWSLETTER FALL 2002 Seminar Series on Mexican Politics and Society he Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program has launched a Tnew Mexico Institute to focus atten- tion on U.S.-Mexico relations, provide in- depth analysis of political, economic, and social changes in Mexico, and foster new scholarship by both Mexican and U.S. researchers. In light of the growing importance of bilateral relations, the Institute holds seminars and conferences; sponsors an ongoing Mexico Public Policy Scholars program; and produces publications on Mexico and U.S.-Mexico relations. As part of the Mexico Institute’s activities, the Latin American Program hosted a series of seminars on the changing nature of Mexico’s politics and society during the winter and spring of 2002. The seminar series began with Mexican congressional leader Felipe Calderón a presentation on February 7, 2002, by Felipe Calderón, the coordinator in Mexico’s pluralist democracy. He noted that Congress is Congress of the National Action Party (PAN). emerging as a key political actor and, for the Calderón stressed the immense shift in first time, assuming its role as an initiator of Mexico’s political system with the advent of a legislation. Despite predictions that a divided Seminar Series on Mexican Politics Police Reform in Peru 15 and Society 1-3 Assessing the Quality of Democracy Peace and Security in Colombia 3-5 in Latin America 16-17 Hispanic Journalists in the United States 5-6 Toward a North American Community? 17-18 Brazilian Foreign Policy 7 Foro Virtual ~ Virtual Forum 19 Agriculture and the Environment in Brazil 8-9 New Joint Scholars Program with Mexican Council on Foreign Relations 19 INSIDE Brazil @ The Wilson Center Working Group 10-12 Staff Notes 20-21 Argentina: Coping with Crisis 12-13 Recent Publications 22-23 Forums on Decentralization in Latin America 14 NOTICIAS Congress would lead to was vital to look for a way to “Mexicanize” glob- gridlock, a great deal of leg- alization, by finding ways to link small and medi- islation has been approved, um-sized businesses in productive chains with most of it with consensus large exporting companies and by investing in among the major parties. He education and healthcare. Mexico is currently argued that this shows the experiencing a boom in its young adult popula- capacity of the parties to tion. This “demographic bonus” presents an learn how to work together opportunity to invest in human capital and seek in the new environment of strategies for re-energizing economic growth. plurality. With time, Two events focused on the conflict in the President Vicente Fox will southern state of Chiapas. On May 23, 2002, Jean submit major reform legisla- Meyer of CIDE and Xochitl Leyva of CIESAS- tion to Congress, raising the Sureste, presented different perspectives on the stakes for Mexican pluralism. ongoing conflict. Meyer discussed the role of reli- On April 5, 2002, Juan gion in Chiapas and emphasized the important Molinar,Deputy Secretary of cross-fertilization between the Catholic and UNAM professor Rolando Cordera the Interior, discussed the Protestant churches. Leyva focused on the process dispersion of power in of creating new municipalities in Chiapas, which Mexico. He noted that Mexican presidents has been a major demand of the Zapatista rebels. always had enjoyed meta-constitutional powers, She noted that the municipalities that have been based on having a single party that controlled the created largely responded to the interests of the executive and legislative branches and almost all ruling party, but these have often become state governorships. This ended with President seedbeds for change within the state. Both speak- Fox’s election. Today most governors and a ers emphasized that the election of new state and majority in congress belong to a different party national governments had brought a new era of than the president. This means that the old style less violent conflict to Chiapas, although there of authoritarian rule is no longer possible and was no sign of a final resolution any time soon. Mexican politicians need to learn to operate At an August 1, 2002, seminar, Miguel under different rules. According to Molinar, Álvarez, director of Serapaz and a Public Policy power today is highly dispersed among different Scholar at the Wilson Center, presented a CD political parties and between branches of gov- containing the entire correspondence of the ernment, and Mexicans are creating new rules Chiapas peace process. The former executive sec- for this democratic era. retary of the mediation team known as CONAI, Álvarez discussed the basic lessons that can be Power today is highly dispersed among dif- drawn from a review of the process. He main- ferent political parties and between branches tained that the conflict was unlike any other pre- vious civil conflict, since the Zapatistas’ threat of government, and Mexicans are creating was more political than military. The mediation new rules for this democratic era. was also different, in that it sought broad civic engagement from a plural group of actors. He Rolando Cordera, professor at UNAM and a stressed the need to return to a peace process Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center, pre- with the Zapatistas, and that this should be sented his work on “Globalization without embedded within debates on building democracy Equity,” on May 30, 2002. He argued that and promoting human rights. Eric Olson, advoca- Mexico’s greater integration into the global cy director at Amnesty International, agreed with economy has not benefited the majority of Álvarez’s assessment, and noted that the causes of Mexicans and has produced a growth rate much the Chiapas conflict remain unresolved. Olson less than that which Mexico sustained from the viewed the failure of the negotiations in terms of 1950s through the 1970s. He maintained that it missed opportunities and miscalculations by the 2 FALL 2002 actors involved. The Mexican government out such factors as low thought the conflict could be resolved through inflation, steady growth in poverty alleviation, ignoring the political dimen- the 1980s and 1990s, sound sions of the conflict; the Zapatistas failed to macro-economic manage- appreciate the importance of electoral reforms; ment, and progress in and the mediation team underestimated the reforms including liberal- strength of the Mexican government. ization, privatization, and decentralization. Birdsall characterized U.S. policy as Peace and Security in Colombia “distracted and incoherent,” citing the initial failure to o-sponsored by the Latin American renew the Andean Trade C Program, the International Crisis Group, Preferences Act as well as and the U.S. Institute of Peace, with the cooper- sanctions in the drug certi- ation of the Inter-American Dialogue, a June fication law that required Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of 20, 2002, conference on Peace and Security in the United States to oppose State Lino Gutiérrez Colombia explored the security, economic, and loans from international political dimensions of conflict resolution in financial institutions. David de Ferranti, vice- Colombia. The meeting took place against three president of the World Bank for Latin America important backdrops: the May 26, 2002, first- and the Caribbean, described causal links in round presidential victory of Álvaro Uribe both directions between violence and eco- Vélez; burgeoning conflict between guerrillas, nomic performance, emphasizing that paramilitary groups, and the state in the after- inequality was diminishing between 1964 and math of failed peace processes with the largest 1982, but increased after that year. Among the guerrilla group, the FARC, as well as the small- priorities he highlighted for the incoming er ELN; and the prospect of deepening U.S. Uribe administration were to enhance security involvement in the war in support of the and reduce violence, address social needs and Colombian government. spur economic growth, including by improv- Keynote speaker Lino Gutiérrez,Principal ing the investment climate for farmers and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for households as well as larger entrepreneurs. Western Hemisphere Affairs, rooted the Eduardo Aninat, deputy managing director of Colombian conflict in the limited government the International Monetary Fund, called vio- presence in large areas of the country, the expansion of illegal drug cultivation, endemic Canadian Ambassador to Colombia violence and social inequities. He described Guillermo Rishchynski stated that despite new authorities the Bush administration is ask- ing of Congress that would recognize “the the failure of the peace process during the crosscutting relation between narcotics traf- Pastrana years, certain broad lines would ficking and terrorism.” The new authority serve as a foundation for the future. (approved by Congress over the summer) was to permit the use of counter-narcotics funds lence an “explicit development constraint” and for counter-terrorism operations against the said that economic policy should be designed FARC and ELN guerrillas and paramilitaries to boost growth and mitigate poverty and of the AUC. social dislocation as well as lay the groundwork In a panel exploring the economic aspects for the consolidation of peace. He urged the of the crisis, Nancy Birdsall,president of the incoming administration to proceed forcefully Center for Global Development, emphasized in several areas, despite Colombia’s current that the economic dimensions